The present invention is directed toward a heating system and more particularly toward a hot water heating system which utilizes heat from a fireplace to replace or supplement heat from a furnace. The heat from the fireplace is also used to preheat water entering the domestic hot water heater.
Attempts have been made to utilize heat from a fire-place for heating rooms in a house which are remote from the room wherein the fireplace is located. These prior attempts have included hot water systems wherein hot water is heated in the fireplace and transferred to a storage tank where it is circulated through radiators in various rooms in the house. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,006,279 and 1,576,899 are examples of such prior art systems.
One of the main difficulties with such prior art systems is that the same water that is heated in the fireplace is used in the home heating system. Thus, if there is a problem in any part of the system, the entire system must be shut down. In other words, if the fireplace heating coil became defective, the entire home heating system would have to be shut down until it could be replaced.